© Pierre Chiha Photography
New England May Run on Dunkin’ But This Local Family Keeps It Brewin’ in Concord
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New Englanders have an ongoing love affair with their beloved, and ubiquitous, “Dunks.” The morning coffee (hot or iced – even in the depth of winter!), pastry, or breakfast sandwich has long been a part of our morning ritual. Dunkin’ is synonymous with the early risers, Megan and Mark the hard-working set, the sports fans, and Pesce with their the pursuit of the American Dream. two sons at the Mark and Megan Pesce personify that Thoreau Street Dunkin’ dream, right here in Concord. In addition to raising their two boys (13 and 16), they UberEats – so that friends and neighbors are the hard-working owner-operators of (including homebound students) don’t miss all four local Dunkin’ locations – Thoreau out on their daily Dunk’s. St., Concord Turnpike, Sudbury Rd., and “It’s a small thing, but keeping some of our Main St. in West Concord. daily ritual in place helps people to keep going. Mark’s father opened his first Dunkin’ We are also hanging in there – but we really Donuts shop in West Medford in 1988. miss the personal, local, traditions that make Mark grew up in the business, working our community so special,” said Megan. “We there all through high school and college take pride in supporting our local community – - included making donuts by hand back in everything from the high school sports teams, the day! Today, after close to 31 years in The team at Dunkin’ to important charity efforts like Kicks for Cancer the business, he and his wife Megan own supporting Kicks for Cancer or the Mighty Moose. Every year, we donate and operate the four locations in Concord Photo courtesy of Dunkin’ more than 2000 cups of hot chocolate for the – they do everything from mop the floors Christmas tree lighting, we give donuts to school activities, and to brew and serve the coffee, plus oversee the day to day operations. we love giving our local kids a job! Being such a part of the fabric It’s a lot of hard work – especially in the midst of a pandemic. of Concord is what makes all the hard work so worth it – this is a “When COVID hit, we had to pivot hard to stay open and keep wonderful town.” our amazing employees supported,” said Mark. “Revenues were “The worst part is waking up every day not knowing if there will down by as much as 60% in the early part of the pandemic. But be another shut down,” said Mark. “So many people depend on us we just couldn’t close our stores – there are literally single moms for their livelihood. It’s just so hard right now. We’ve learned a lot depending on that paycheck, and we weren’t going to let them – and when we get through this, we’ll be better for it. But the only down. We also jumped right in to help with efforts like Fuel the way to get there is to have the support of our community.” Fight and Concord Together - to help our friends and neighbors.” So the next time you grab a cup of Dunk’s, you can feel good Megan and Mark have worked hard to keep customers and knowing that you’re supporting a Concord family - and our friends their team safe and healthy. Plexiglass barriers and new cleaning and neighbors who are working hard to keep the coffee brewing procedures are in place, with a focus on high touch areas (iced or hot!) until we can all gather together once more to enjoy throughout the day. So is curbside delivery (you can order from the many traditions that make Concord so very special. your app in your car), as well as delivery through GrubHub and
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